UPDATE: Since this entry was posted 21 hours ago, Elaine Rowen's campaign has changed her website to accurately reflect what The Bee editorial said.
In the race for an open seat for the Sierra Community College District board, The Bee's editorial board endorsed Dennis Cota over Elaine Rowen. Our editorial noted that the race had drawn "two appealing candidates" and said nice things about both.
But now Rowen has sent out an email to voters and posted on her website a version that changes our words and misrepresents our view.
Our endorsement concluded: "Both candidates would bring fresh perspective, but Cota gets the edge. He has the energy and temperament to be a strong voice for the college in the community." Rowen's campaign changed that to say: "She would bring fresh perspective (to the board)." (Emphasis added.)
It's not uncommon for candidates to extract a brief passage from an editorial and use it in campaign communications. That's what happens when you say something nice about a politician!
But here the candidate's campaign is attributing to the editorial board words we did not use and doing so in a way that implies we endorsed her when we actually endorsed her opponent.
I called Rowen to ask her about the changes and she said she would make sure that the quote gets corrected. We'll be checking her website to see how quickly that happens.
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